slightly savvy

Slightly Savvy is an influencer's sneak peek behind the scenes of the PR world, built to deliver the most transparent PR insights to bloggers + influencers who want to transform their blog into a business.

I definitely can say that it’s becoming increasingly popular with brands as well – so many brands are SO focused on their own Instagram strategies and that means there are so many opportunities for bloggers to work with them.

So today, let’s talk through four creative ways to make money on Instagram.

I also wanted to disclaim that you should always be doing things that feel authentic to you and feel super genuine to your readers – do what is right for them. These are just ideas to get your brain thinking + exposure to some sponsorships ideas that maybe you wouldn’t normally think of 🙂

So hopefully, you guys can take away some unique ways to monetize your Instagram while still giving tons of value to your audience.

Host a Giveaway with a Brand

This is becoming increasingly popular, but it still kind of flies under the radar. As brands are choosing bloggers and influencers with more care and more attention to their actual real audiences (aka not fake followers, not bots, good engagement, etc.), hosted giveaways are becoming a nice true collaboration between a brand and blogger.

Basically, the way it works – the brand gives the blogger a wide array of products, she offers it as a giveaway to her followers. And to enter the giveaway, followers have to go follow/comment on the brand’s Instagram.

It’s basically an easy win-win because your readers get some really nice products from a brand- they get to try it out, see if they really like it. The brand gets exposure in front of their ideal audience – and it’s also giving product again to someone who could become a long-term buyer.

And the benefit to you, as the blogger/influencer, is that usually, they’ll throw in some cash for you as well.

When this is a true match in blogger-brand heaven, I think it can be a really genuine way to monetize your Instagram.

Instagram Story Take Over

Again, in a perfect world, this can be a really genuine collaboration for a blogger.

And again, as brands are trying to focus on truer collaborative partnerships with bloggers, things that are less #ad and more natural are popping up.

So an Instagram Story takeover is exactly what it sounds like – and you’ve probably seen these, too.

As a blogger, you can charge a flat fee for an Instagram Story take over.

It’s usually a smaller fee than a sponsored Instagram post or blog post because you’re basically just going to be posting for 24 hours on the brand’s Instagram while encouraging your followers to go follow them as well.

Again, it’s a super easy way to monetize your Instagram, and for brands, again they’re getting in front of their ideal audience by partnering with you.

Here’s a prime example from a blogger I follow, Payton Sartain. At Miami Swim Week, she took over Kopari’s Instagram for the day, bringing their followers behind the scenes of her journey through Swim Week.

Super fun, easy, and natural – and she kicked it off by alerting her 60K followers on Insta that she would be taking over the Kopari Insta and to follow along.

Sponsored IGTV

Since we can’t monetize IGTV video views like we can out YouTube (yet), try out a sponsored IGTV episode.

If you’ve already started an IGTV channel, it’s a great way to introduce monetization into that arena – plus if you have a large or semi-large Instagram following, your followers are automatically notified when your new IGTVs are posted, which can give you a nice boost in views.

Even though they’re basically not even notified these days and you post a new photo, right??

Again, it could be a really fun way to get used to filming for IGTV, you have the added benefit of delivering value to your readers, AND you’re doing something that’s not alllll over Instagram yet.